In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on safety in most activities of human endeavor, including sports. This emphasis in the area of sports-related activities has resulted in the design and manufacture of a large number of different types of protective headgear. Many new types of football and motorcycle helmets have been developed as well as protective headgear for boxers, hockey players, surfers, skateboarders, etc. Each of these different devices is designed in an attempt to give a maximum amount of protection for a particular type of use. However, an area of conflict always arises in balancing the protection of the wearer's face against visibility and one is often sacrificed at the expense of the other.
A boxer's headgear while protecting the head and affording maximum visibility provides no protection for the wearer's face. Similarly, a football helmet in an effort to provide some facial protection employs a face mask at the sacrifice of some degree of visibility. A motorcycle helmet while perhaps adequately protecting the wearer's head, affords little or no protection to the wearer's face and no suitable headgear has heretofore been developed for protecting an individual when practicing or participating in the martial arts wherein excellent visibility is highly important and the majority of blows are directed toward the particular location on the opponent's face as opposed to the head in general. Accordingly, for many different usages and in particular for learning the skills of self defense and development in the martial arts it would be highly desirable to provide headgear which affords excellent protection for the wearer's head without impairing his vision. The headgear disclosed herein provides such protection.